Jerome — Commentary on Scripture | TrulyRandomVerse

On Jeremiah

20 of 552

Jeremiah 2:3

(Verse 3.) Holy is Israel to the Lord, the first fruits of his harvest: all who devour him shall be guilty; evil shall come upon them, says the Lord. When Israel speaks of the first fruits of the Lord's harvest, it shows that the people are gathered from the nations after the first fruits; according to what is written in another place: Remember your congregation, whom you have possessed from the beginning (Psalm 73:2). However, the first fruits are always owed to the priests, not to the enemies. What follows is this: All those who devour him will sin: evil will come upon them, says the Lord. This is its meaning: Just as those who devour the offerings (Numbers 5) are not from the priestly lineage, they are guilty of a sinful act, so those who defile Israel will be subjected to great evil: as it is written in the twenty-sixth psalm by the holy David: While evil men approach me to consume my flesh, my enemies who trouble me have become weak and fallen (Psalm 26:3-4). For indeed, those who carry out the sentence of God will not be exempt from punishment, and evils come upon them; for sca…

(Verse 3.) Holy is Israel to the Lord, the first fruits of his harvest: all who devour him shall be guilty; evil shall come upon them, says the Lord. When Israel speaks of the first fruits of the Lord's harvest, it shows that the people are gathered from the nations after the first fruits; according to what is written in another place: Remember your congregation, whom you have possessed from the beginning (Psalm 73:2). However, the first fruits are always owed to the priests, not to the enemies. What follows is this: All those who devour him will sin: evil will come upon them, says the Lord. This is its meaning: Just as those who devour the offerings (Numbers 5) are not from the priestly lineage, they are guilty of a sinful act, so those who defile Israel will be subjected to great evil: as it is written in the twenty-sixth psalm by the holy David: While evil men approach me to consume my flesh, my enemies who trouble me have become weak and fallen (Psalm 26:3-4). For indeed, those who carry out the sentence of God will not be exempt from punishment, and evils come upon them; for scandals must come, but woe to him through whom the scandals come (Mat. XVIII).

Commentary on Jeremiah
Jeremiah 2:4-5

(Verses 4, 5.) Hear the word of the Lord, house of Jacob, and all the families of the house of Israel. Thus says the Lord: What did your fathers find in me of iniquity, that they went far from me, and went after vanity, and became vain? This meaning is also testified by another prophet: O my people, what have I done to you, and how have I been a burden to you? Answer me: for I brought you out of the land of Egypt, and delivered you from the house of slaves (Micah 6:3-4). However, both names, Jacob and Israel, are used: not according to the twelve tribes, but according to the entire people. For Jacob himself was later called Israel. But the sins of the fathers do not have an effect on their children, although the children, having the likeness of the fathers, may be punished for their own sins and the sins of their parents. We often read that God has mercy on the children because of the holy fathers. However, the fathers of the sinful people have forsaken God, and not for a short time, but for a long time. And they have followed vanity, that is, idols, which are of no benefit to their…

(Verses 4, 5.) Hear the word of the Lord, house of Jacob, and all the families of the house of Israel. Thus says the Lord: What did your fathers find in me of iniquity, that they went far from me, and went after vanity, and became vain? This meaning is also testified by another prophet: O my people, what have I done to you, and how have I been a burden to you? Answer me: for I brought you out of the land of Egypt, and delivered you from the house of slaves (Micah 6:3-4). However, both names, Jacob and Israel, are used: not according to the twelve tribes, but according to the entire people. For Jacob himself was later called Israel. But the sins of the fathers do not have an effect on their children, although the children, having the likeness of the fathers, may be punished for their own sins and the sins of their parents. We often read that God has mercy on the children because of the holy fathers. However, the fathers of the sinful people have forsaken God, and not for a short time, but for a long time. And they have followed vanity, that is, idols, which are of no benefit to their worshippers. And they have become like them, as it is written: Let them become like those who make and trust in them, and all who trust in them.

Commentary on Jeremiah
Jeremiah 2:6

(Verse 6) And they did not say, Where is the Lord who led us up out of the land of Egypt, who led us through the desert, through an uninhabited and impassable land, through a land of thirst and the shadow of death, through a land in which no man walks, nor does any man dwell. For son of man, they interpreted as the seventy sons of man; and for the shadow of death, it was added from Theodotion, the shadow of death. And while this is evident according to history, it should be considered in light of the anagoge, that as long as we are in this world and are led out of Egypt, we ascend gradually, and first we pass through the deserts and the uninhabitable land, which the holy one ought not to inhabit, and the impassable land, to show the difficulty of the journey. You are thirsty for the earth, where we always desire greater things and are never content with the present. And it is an image, or rather a shadow of death: for we are always in danger, and everywhere the devil sets his traps. On the earth where no man has walked, who is perfect in Christ. For we will all rise to become perfect…

(Verse 6) And they did not say, Where is the Lord who led us up out of the land of Egypt, who led us through the desert, through an uninhabited and impassable land, through a land of thirst and the shadow of death, through a land in which no man walks, nor does any man dwell. For son of man, they interpreted as the seventy sons of man; and for the shadow of death, it was added from Theodotion, the shadow of death. And while this is evident according to history, it should be considered in light of the anagoge, that as long as we are in this world and are led out of Egypt, we ascend gradually, and first we pass through the deserts and the uninhabitable land, which the holy one ought not to inhabit, and the impassable land, to show the difficulty of the journey. You are thirsty for the earth, where we always desire greater things and are never content with the present. And it is an image, or rather a shadow of death: for we are always in danger, and everywhere the devil sets his traps. On the earth where no man has walked, who is perfect in Christ. For we will all rise to become perfect men, to the measure of the fullness of Christ's age. Neither does he who is a man of God or the Son of Man ever reside in it, but always hastens to greater things. From this it is clear that there is no perfection in the journey, but in the end of the journey and in the dwelling place that is prepared for the saints in heaven, and about which it is said: Those who stand in the house of the Lord, in the courts of the house of our God (Psalm 133:1). Therefore, it is in vain that this new heresy suspects perfection to be here, where there is a battle and a contest, and an uncertain outcome of future events.

Commentary on Jeremiah
Jeremiah 2:7
(Verse 7) And I led you into the land of Carmel, that you may eat its fruit and its goodness; and when you entered, you polluted my land and made my inheritance an abomination. For the labor of a very hard journey, I gave you abundance of all things. Indeed, Carmel, which is called Chermel in Hebrew, signifies this, and in our language it means the knowledge of circumcision. Just as that people defiled and violated the holy land and the fertile land of all things with idolatry, so we, receiving the knowledge of true circumcision, eat its fruits; and with negligence creeping in, we pollute God's land and make his inheritance abominable.

Commentary on Jeremiah
Jeremiah 2:8
(Verse 8.) The priests did not say, 'Where is the Lord?' and those who held my Law did not know me, and the shepherds transgressed against me, and the prophets prophesied in Baal and followed idols. After so many benefits, they turned the privileges of dignity into contempt, so that the priests would not seek the Lord, so that the teachers of the Law would ignore him whom they should teach, and the shepherds (or rather, preachers) would become transgressors through negligence, and the prophets who dispute among the people would not speak to God, but to idols, and would worship their own creations. But we must use words against the masters of our order, who devour the people of God like bread, and by their evil deeds do not invoke the Lord.

Commentary on Jeremiah
Jeremiah 2:9
(Verse 9) Therefore I will still contend with you in judgment, says the Lord, and I will reason with your children. So that it may not seem that I strike with power, as if contending with equals in reason; according to what David sings and the Apostle uses: That you may be justified in your words, and may overcome when you are judged (Psalm 50:6; Romans 3:4). And he testifies that he has done this many times in the past, and he demonstrates a similar stubbornness in the children of evildoers. However, it secretly signifies that the ancient denial of God, even their children followed in the coming of the Lord.

Commentary on Jeremiah
Jeremiah 2:10-11

(Vers. 10, 11.) Go to the islands of Kittim, and see: and send to Kedar, and consider carefully, and see if such a thing has happened: if a nation has changed its gods (or its own gods). And certainly they are not gods: but my people have changed their glory into an idol (or something that will not profit them). He makes a comparison of that which is incomparable, and gives the true God to liars. Go, he says, to the islands of Kittim: which we should understand as either Italy or the Western lands: because the island of Cyprus, which is called by this name, is near the land of Judah. Of which both Zeno and the leader of the Stoics were. But the region of Cedar is one of solitude and of the Ismaelites, who are now called the Saracens: against whom the prophecy of the very Prophet himself is covered in the farthest parts (infra ad cap. XLIX); and of whom David mentions, saying: I have dwelt with those who dwell in Cedar: my soul has traveled much (Psal. CXIX, 5). And the meaning is: Either go to the West, or send into the wilderness, and see if any nation has done what you have done. F…

(Vers. 10, 11.) Go to the islands of Kittim, and see: and send to Kedar, and consider carefully, and see if such a thing has happened: if a nation has changed its gods (or its own gods). And certainly they are not gods: but my people have changed their glory into an idol (or something that will not profit them). He makes a comparison of that which is incomparable, and gives the true God to liars. Go, he says, to the islands of Kittim: which we should understand as either Italy or the Western lands: because the island of Cyprus, which is called by this name, is near the land of Judah. Of which both Zeno and the leader of the Stoics were. But the region of Cedar is one of solitude and of the Ismaelites, who are now called the Saracens: against whom the prophecy of the very Prophet himself is covered in the farthest parts (infra ad cap. XLIX); and of whom David mentions, saying: I have dwelt with those who dwell in Cedar: my soul has traveled much (Psal. CXIX, 5). And the meaning is: Either go to the West, or send into the wilderness, and see if any nation has done what you have done. For they did not despise their gods, neither the wooden and stone ones, nor did they change them in comparison to gold, but following the ancient error, they held onto what they had received from their ancestors. And certainly this is true, since none of their gods exist, but rather they are man-made idols. But my people have exchanged the truth for a lie and have preferred an idol to me, which will not be able to help them in times of need. We can also say this against those who pursue vices with more zeal than virtues, whom the Apostle warns, saying: I speak as a human, because of the weakness of your minds. Just as you presented your members as servants to impurity and lawlessness leading to more lawlessness, so now present your members as servants to righteousness leading to sanctification. (Romans 6:19).

Commentary on Jeremiah
Jeremiah 2:12-13

(Verses 12, 13.) Be astonished, O heavens, at this, and shudder, be utterly desolate, declares the Lord. For my people have committed two evils: they have forsaken me, the fountain of living waters, and hewed out cisterns for themselves, broken cisterns that can hold no water. LXX: The heavens were astonished at this, and were greatly alarmed, and the rest likewise. The heavens to whom it was said: Listen, O heavens, and I will speak. (Deut. 32:1): and, Hear, O earth, the words of the Lord (Isaiah 1:2), seeing that the commands of God are trampled upon, it shudders, and cannot hide its astonishment. For every creature groans and laments over the sins of men. But God's people have done two things against Him. First, they have forsaken God who is the source of life, and He gave them a commandment, saying: 'I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt' (Exod. XX, 2). Second, it is written in the same place: 'You shall have no other gods before me'; for this reason they have followed demons, whom He calls broken cisterns, because they are unable to keep God's commandm…

(Verses 12, 13.) Be astonished, O heavens, at this, and shudder, be utterly desolate, declares the Lord. For my people have committed two evils: they have forsaken me, the fountain of living waters, and hewed out cisterns for themselves, broken cisterns that can hold no water. LXX: The heavens were astonished at this, and were greatly alarmed, and the rest likewise. The heavens to whom it was said: Listen, O heavens, and I will speak. (Deut. 32:1): and, Hear, O earth, the words of the Lord (Isaiah 1:2), seeing that the commands of God are trampled upon, it shudders, and cannot hide its astonishment. For every creature groans and laments over the sins of men. But God's people have done two things against Him. First, they have forsaken God who is the source of life, and He gave them a commandment, saying: 'I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt' (Exod. XX, 2). Second, it is written in the same place: 'You shall have no other gods before me'; for this reason they have followed demons, whom He calls broken cisterns, because they are unable to keep God's commandments. And this must be noted, that the fountain is perpetual, and it has life-giving waters. But the cisterns and lakes, either from torrents or from muddy waters, are filled with earth and rain. The gates of heaven are called those, of which it is also written in the twenty-third psalm: Lift up your heads, O gates, and the king of glory will enter. Concerning which the Septuagint translated: Lift up your gates, O princes: of which more will be said in its proper place. And what Aquila and Symmachus interpreted as 'coelos', and LXX and Theodotion as 'coelum', should not be confused. For in Hebrew, 'Samaim' is a common noun, and both the plural and singular forms are referred to as 'coeli' with the same name, just like Thebes, Athens, and Salonae.

Commentary on Jeremiah
Jeremiah 2:13
O blessed change! Once the body wept, but now laughs forevermore. Once it desired the broken cisterns of which the prophet speaks, but now it has been satisfied in the Lord, the fountain of life.

LETTER 108.22
Jeremiah 2:13
Let him “possess his vessel in sanctification and honor,” let him drink of his own wells, not out of the dissolute cisterns of the harlots that cannot hold within them the pure waters of chastity.

LETTER 128.3
Jeremiah 2:14
(Verse 14) Is the Israelite a servant or a native? I believe that from this place, the Jews who were filled with pride said to the Savior: We are the seed of Abraham and have never served anyone. How do you say, 'You will be free' (John 8:33)? Ignorant that everyone who commits sin is a slave to sin, and each one serves the one by whom they are overcome. Therefore, the ones born from the friend of God, Abraham, by their own vice, became like the sons of Ham, to whom it was said: 'Cursed be Canaan; a servant shall he be to his brothers' (Genesis 9:25).

Commentary on Jeremiah
Jeremiah 2:15
(v. 15) So why did he become prey? The lions roared against him and gave forth their voice. They made his land a desolation; his cities are burned and no one lives in them. The divine speech asks a question in order to answer it. But indeed, the lions can be understood as the princes of Babylon, who made their land a desolation and destroyed their cities with fire. Or certainly, by way of anagoge, we can understand the lions as adversarial powers or the leaders of heretics, who devastate the land of the Church and lay waste to all her cities with heretical fire, the fire about which it is written: "All of them are adulterers, their hearts are like an oven" (Hosea 7:4). For they truly give their voice, and in this same prophet under the figure of the partridge they cry out: They gather what they have not brought forth: they make riches, but not with judgment (Jerem. XVII, 17). Therefore, her cities have been devastated and destroyed: because they do not have God as an inhabitant, as the Scripture says: And there is no one who dwells in them (Ibid., 4).

Commentary on Jeremiah
Jeremiah 2:16-17
(Verse 16, 17.) The sons of Memphis and Taphne have defiled you, even to the crown. Is it not because you abandoned the Lord your God at the time when He was leading you along the way? This that we have said, is not found in the Septuagint at the time when He was leading you along the way. However, he names two great cities of Egypt, Memphis and Taphne, and he says that their sons defiled Israel even to the crown, in the sense in which Isaiah expressed it: From the sole of the foot to the crown, there is no soundness in it (Isaiah 1:6). For there was such a great lust among the Egyptians, who are of large bodies, that they spared no member, but defiled everything. Literally, it refers to the idols of the Egyptians; spiritually, to the teachers of a perverse doctrine, who defile the purity of the Church with their filthiness. These things happened to them because they abandoned their Lord God, especially at the time when they should have followed him as their leader.

Commentary on Jeremiah
Jeremiah 2:18
(Verse 18.) And now, what do you want, on the way of Egypt, to drink the water of Shior? And what do you want on the way of the Assyrians, to drink the water of the river? Concerning Shior, we have interpreted it as turbid, because the Hebrew word signifies that. The common edition has it as Geon. Therefore, because he had previously mentioned the sons of Memphis and Taphnis, who had violated Israel up to the crown: now he more clearly mentions Egypt itself. There is no doubt that the Nile has turbid waters, and it signifies the river of the Assyrians, as Scripture says, that the promised land extends from the river of Egypt to the great river Euphrates. But those who abandon Christ, the source of life, and dig for themselves the pits of heretics who cannot contain the waters of doctrine, must necessarily submit to the lions who reduce their land to a wasteland and destroy all the Churches. They will be polluted even to the top, and drink turbid waters from the streams of the Assyrian river and the North wind, from which evil is kindled upon the earth.

Commentary on Jeremiah
Jeremiah 2:19
(Verse 19.) Your wickedness will reprove you, and your apostasy will rebuke you. Know and see that it is evil and bitter for you to have forsaken the Lord your God, and that you have no fear of me, says the Lord of hosts. It should be noted that after wickedness or apostasy has fully satisfied the one who commits it, and has come to the point of being nauseating like the quails, it instructs the one who does penance: commanding them to see what they have left behind, and what they have followed; and how, spurning what is good and sweet, they have chosen what is evil and bitter. But all this has happened because he has forsaken his Lord God, and his fear is not with him. For the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom (Prov. IX): and because he did not have it, he is delivered to evil and bitterness.

Commentary on Jeremiah
Jeremiah 2:20
(Verse 20.) You have broken my yoke from the age (or your own) and shattered my chains (or yours); and you said, 'I will not serve.' For on every high hill and under every leafy tree, you lay as a prostitute (or were spread out in fornication) there. This is spoken as if to a prostitute, Israel, who has broken the marriage covenant and said, 'I will not serve.' It is understood to mean the Lord, or husband. But on every high hill and under every leafy tree, she has prostrated herself to idolatry. For pleasant and lofty places are always dedicated to idols. This can also be said of those who, originally Christians and educated in sacred Scriptures, afterwards, desiring secular literature, which is signified by the hills, and pleasant eloquence (according to Al. in pleasant eloquence) which is displayed in leafy trees, prostrate themselves before demons, who under the pretense of knowledge and lofty wisdom, pollute the souls of believers and trip up the feet of anyone passing by.

Commentary on Jeremiah
Jeremiah 2:21
(Verse 21.) But I planted you as a choice vine, all true seed; how have you turned into a corrupt, foreign vine to me? Septuagint: But I planted you as a fruitful vine, all true; how have you turned into a bitter foreign grapevine? For the fruitful vine, or the chosen one, is called Sorec in Hebrew: which is mentioned in the song of Isaiah (Isaiah 5). And it is of the best kind of grapevine: with which branch Israel says that the Lord has planted himself; and he marvels at how the true seed and the chosen vine have turned into bitterness: and therefore has become a foreign vine; and no one is secure, if even the planting of the Lord and the true seed and the vine of Sorec are so changed by their own fault, that they depart from the Lord through bitterness and become a foreign grapevine. And in this we must consider the clemency of the Savior, that he who said in the Gospel, 'I am the true vine' (John 15:1), also gave to his disciples and to the people who believe in him, that they may be chosen or true vine, if they desire to remain in what has been planted.

Commentary on Jeremiah
Jeremiah 2:22

(Verse 22) If you wash yourself with niter, you will multiply for yourself the herb borith, you are stained in your iniquity before me, says the Lord God. As for the herb borith, which we render in Hebrew, the LXX translated it as 'poan' to signify the herb of fullers, which grows in green and moist places according to the custom of the province of Palestine; and it has the same power for washing away stains as niter. But our niter and the herb of the fuller is repentance. The book of Ecclesiasticus, which also rebukes and rebukes and corrects wrongdoers, has the similarity of sharp nitre. However, one who is stained with light stains of sins is cleansed by lighter admonitions. But serious sins, which lead to death, cannot be diluted by nitre or the herb Borith: but they require more severe torments. For the work of each person will be tested by fire, and it will be revealed in the fire (1 Cor. III). And he added beautifully: You are spotted in your wickedness in my sight: for even if you seem clean to men, you are not clean to me, who know the consciences of each one. Hence it is sa…

(Verse 22) If you wash yourself with niter, you will multiply for yourself the herb borith, you are stained in your iniquity before me, says the Lord God. As for the herb borith, which we render in Hebrew, the LXX translated it as 'poan' to signify the herb of fullers, which grows in green and moist places according to the custom of the province of Palestine; and it has the same power for washing away stains as niter. But our niter and the herb of the fuller is repentance. The book of Ecclesiasticus, which also rebukes and rebukes and corrects wrongdoers, has the similarity of sharp nitre. However, one who is stained with light stains of sins is cleansed by lighter admonitions. But serious sins, which lead to death, cannot be diluted by nitre or the herb Borith: but they require more severe torments. For the work of each person will be tested by fire, and it will be revealed in the fire (1 Cor. III). And he added beautifully: You are spotted in your wickedness in my sight: for even if you seem clean to men, you are not clean to me, who know the consciences of each one. Hence it is said in another place: Not every living thing shall be justified in your sight (Psalm 42:2).

Commentary on Jeremiah
Jeremiah 2:23

(Verse 23) How can you say, 'I am not defiled; I have not gone after the Baals'? Look at your way in the valley; know what you have done - a restless young camel running here and there, (valley in Hebrew is called Ge, which is translated as 'multitude' in our language, and can be referred to as the tomb of the multitude). In vain you have made your plea; you have all the signs of guilt, yet you deny having worshipped the idols of the Baals (below, in verse 19). Look at the valley of the sons of Hinnom, where the waters of Shiloah flow, and there you will see the temple of Baal, whom you have worshipped instead of God. And what is added: know what you have done uncovers the closed eyes of the denier, so that he may see what he is ashamed to look at. According to tropology, we accuse the impudence of those who do not want to confess their own faults by their works. For such people do not walk in the narrow and confined way that leads to life; but in the broad and spacious way, through which many enter, which leads to death (Matthew VII). Therefore it is appropriately named a πολυάνδριο…

(Verse 23) How can you say, 'I am not defiled; I have not gone after the Baals'? Look at your way in the valley; know what you have done - a restless young camel running here and there, (valley in Hebrew is called Ge, which is translated as 'multitude' in our language, and can be referred to as the tomb of the multitude). In vain you have made your plea; you have all the signs of guilt, yet you deny having worshipped the idols of the Baals (below, in verse 19). Look at the valley of the sons of Hinnom, where the waters of Shiloah flow, and there you will see the temple of Baal, whom you have worshipped instead of God. And what is added: know what you have done uncovers the closed eyes of the denier, so that he may see what he is ashamed to look at. According to tropology, we accuse the impudence of those who do not want to confess their own faults by their works. For such people do not walk in the narrow and confined way that leads to life; but in the broad and spacious way, through which many enter, which leads to death (Matthew VII). Therefore it is appropriately named a πολυάνδριον, or according to the history, because a multitude of people were killed and lost there due to the evil of idolatry.

Commentary on Jeremiah
Jeremiah 2:24

(Verse 24.) The swift courser, unfolding its paths: the wild donkey accustomed to solitude, attracted by the desire of its own soul, drew the wind of its love: none shall turn her away: all who seek her shall not be lacking. In her monthly flow they shall find her. In the evening her voice howled, unfolding her paths over the waters of solitude, carried by the wind of her own soul: she was handed over: who shall turn her back? All who seek her shall not labor: and in her humility they shall find her. In this place, the Septuagint edition differs greatly from the Hebrew truth: nevertheless, both have their own meaning. As stated above, I am not defiled; but as if speaking to a woman who has behaved shamefully, it describes her fornication. How, it says, like a light deer, which we called a runner in common language, and even more significantly, Aquila, Symmachus, and Theodotion translate it as swift courses, it explains her ways, and she is carried swiftly to her pasture. And just as a wild donkey accustomed to the wilderness draws in the wind or the breath of its own desire (for amon…

(Verse 24.) The swift courser, unfolding its paths: the wild donkey accustomed to solitude, attracted by the desire of its own soul, drew the wind of its love: none shall turn her away: all who seek her shall not be lacking. In her monthly flow they shall find her. In the evening her voice howled, unfolding her paths over the waters of solitude, carried by the wind of her own soul: she was handed over: who shall turn her back? All who seek her shall not labor: and in her humility they shall find her. In this place, the Septuagint edition differs greatly from the Hebrew truth: nevertheless, both have their own meaning. As stated above, I am not defiled; but as if speaking to a woman who has behaved shamefully, it describes her fornication. How, it says, like a light deer, which we called a runner in common language, and even more significantly, Aquila, Symmachus, and Theodotion translate it as swift courses, it explains her ways, and she is carried swiftly to her pasture. And just as a wild donkey accustomed to the wilderness draws in the wind or the breath of its own desire (for among the Hebrews, both wind and breath are called the same, Ruah), so Israel, or rather Jerusalem, was carried away with all urgency to the desire of lust, and burned with love for all idols; and there is no one who can turn her away from this impulse by their warnings: not because the incapacity of the Prophets did this, but the wicked malice of the one who desires it. Whoever, he says, seeks it, will not labor greatly. In menstruation and in its impurity they will find it. For which reason Aquila, νεομηνίαν, that is, the kalends, Symmachus, month, and Septuagint and Theodotion, interpreted it as "humility". Moreover, according to the Septuagint, the meaning here is: The harlot Jerusalem, according to that woman who is described in Proverbs, at evening she wailed with her voice, and provoked lovers to lust, opened the ways to the most shameful acts, and spread her legs to every passerby (Prov. V and VI). It was a place having the charm of flowing waters, which becomes more delightful when there is solitude all around, so that no one sees those engaged in sexual acts. In her desire, he said, her soul was filled with a spirited air, either being led by a perverse spirit or seeking the refreshment of love: or certainly she sang songs of her own depravity. She is given over, he said, to her vices and lust: no one can turn her away: all who wish to find her will find her in the lowliness of immorality: so that she can never be satisfied with the love of pleasure.

Commentary on Jeremiah